Not really getting the hate. It's the same show it always has been. Maybe that's the problem for some?
It's because Taylor Sheridan is trying to turn the show around while not infringing on Kevin Costner's gigantic ego.
This show doesn't get the financing to start it or the ratings without Costner's star power. However Costner needs to be a hero all the time. Everything needs to revolve around his character and you can't cast or create a character that will steal scenes from him. That's incredibly limiting as a storyteller.
What Sheridan is doing is backdooring a giant middle finger to Costner's ego.
Will Patton's character tells Jamie that the Duttons don't see him as more than a useful tool and never really accepted him and he would only be a pawn in John Dutton's narcissism. And he's right. If Lee Dutton had lived beyond the pilot ( Dave Annable playing the mild Sonny Corleone role), would Rip Wheeler have been granted the keys to the future of Yellowstone? Kayce is the inept version of Michael Corleone ( the youngest rebellious head strong son who ran off to the military but needs to come home to save his family) Jamie is basically Fredo with a law degree and more of a conscience. Beth is the GF3 version of Talia Shire. Angry, brutal, vicious and shrewish.
The show's build isn't complicated. Sheridan likely watched some Game Of Thrones and The Godfather and asked himself - What would happen if the Corleone Family was not run but Don Vito, but by Tywin Lannister instead?
Lloyd's storyline is a manifestation of what Jamie's real father is saying. There's a pretense of loyalty and family, but it's just all about John Dutton's insatiable ego. Lloyd gave 30 years to Yellowstone and what does he have to show for it? He doesn't get to inherit the kingdom like Rip. He's just nothing more than a glorified crew boss that's basically a slave to the ranch. The tension between Walker and Lloyd isn't about the blonde floozy. It's about Walker seeing and acting upon the reality of the truth about the Duttons and Yellowstone and not holding back about it. Lloyd bought in and it cost him and he regrets it. Walker knows exactly what the deal is and he knows it's all a sham. Lloyd has a problem with the truth. Whereas Rip is so invested in the lies, that his only choice was to be a Dutton to keep the truth from killing him.
John Dutton is a lousy father. It's Sheridan's way of saying the character is a lousy person in a way that can't be done openly because Costner can't handle being a real three dimensional character on screen. It only really cements itself with Jimmy. John and Rip have always been rough and brutal with Jimmy, but now you see him in an environment where people sort of get he just needs more help. How Jimmy is treated is a reflection of what we don't see about how Lee, Jamie, Beth and Kayce were treated. But moreso of how Jamie was treated. John Dutton calls Jamie his son but you can clearly see he's never treated him like his son.
So to sell this to Costner, Sheridan likely had to push the idea of Dutton as man so purposeful, that he lost sight of his children, but he always loved them and everything is for them.
But in reality, the show's tone has moved somewhat to highlight what a crappy human being John Dutton has always been. Piper Perabo exists to serve Costner's ego. Saving a calf and showing her the "cowboy way" means he can convert even those who thought they should oppose him. Because Dutton is always right. But the antagonism by Beth to Piper Perabo shows it's all just another big lie. It's just a presentation of a good man and a decent person.
What did Dutton say a few episodes ago? "Why is it that in order for my children to find happiness, they all have to leave me?"
Walker isn't so much a character but a reality check for what Sheridan knows it's actually good storytelling. You can't have an omnipotent character like John Dutton and still have consistent conflict to drive some kind of progression.
Jimmy is John Dutton's David Putney. The point of the 6666 ranch story isn't to make you love Jimmy, but to show the contrast to Yellowstone to remind you of the lie that is John Dutton's life.
I wasn't quite sure where Sheridan was headed until I saw the first scene with Costner and Tate and unpacked the dialogue. Tate is to Dutton is like how Draco Malfoy saw Hermoine Granger as a "mudblood" There is a latent undercurrent of racism within this show. It's not for woke, it's just how Sheridan envisions this culture.